Fabulous Followers: Featuring @Stuart_Sheldon

Not long ago it occurred to me, I have all these followers on Twitter, but who are they? I mean, I don’t know everyone who follows me.

Cute, right?

So I picked one cute guy and I sent him a quick tweet, asking him, you know, why me?

As you can imagine, we struck up a lovely cyber chat, and I learned a lot about him. And guess what? Now I’m following him!

I intend to make this a kind of semi-regular feature, so if you follow me, don’t be surprised if I tweet you and ask you to tell me about yourself and share your story with my readers. Because everyone has a story, right?

RASJ: You’ve been following me, Stu. Tell me a little bit about yourself. You know, so I feel a little less stalked.

SS: I am the guy who constantly reinvents himself, because I want to taste everything in life. At 25, I was the youngest vice-president at Smith Barney and destined for untold riches, but I threw it all away at 27 to pursue my artistic dream. Twenty years later, I’ve hosted my own television documentary, written for, launched and sold my own magazine, and exhibited my paintings and sculptures on nearly every continent. My greatest creation has been the mixed media collaboration my wife and I worked tirelessly to manifest – two beautiful boys who teach me each day. With the major bases now covered in life, my laser beam is now focused on the sale of my recently-completed first book and the inception of my second.

RASJ: Whaaaat? You finished a book! Tell me about it. You must be stoked.

SS: A Lonely Fool’s Masterpiece is the true story of a forlorn artist in his late-30s who decides to paint the wife and child of his dreams into existence. This is what I did and, thankfully, the journey burned my oversized ego like feathers in a flame. Now I am calmer, more grounded, and full of constant gratitude. If nothing else, this book is my legacy and gift to my kids, chronicling the emotional play-by-play that led, after much laughter and tears, to their arrival. National Book Critics Circle Award winner, Edwidge Daniticat, called it a “moving book for our times,” which was awesome. Now I’m querying publishers.

RASJ: Wait, you’re a writer and an artist? Have I seen any of your work?

SS: Maybe. One is my favorite sculptures, titled Play! is made entirely out of toys I found in thrift shops in the Bay Area. It now lives in the collection of a producer somewhere in the Hollywood Hills.

Stu Sheldon’s piece entitled “Play!” Isn’t it cool?

RASJ: That piece is wicked cool! Okay, let’s have a little fun. Look! A penguin walked into your room wearing a sombrero. What does he say? And why is he there?

SS: That’s so weird because a penguin did walk into the room. My back was turned and he did not recognize me at first as he said, all spineless and fish-breathed, “Senor (he incorrectly pronounced the enye as a hard ‘n’), you want tamale?” I spun around, grabbed the brim of his hat and tossed it like a Frisbee into the hallway. This penguin, incognito as a tamale salesman, owed me money. But I saw right thru his ruse because I can read people … and flightless birds.. I said, “No, I want those twenty clams. Cough it up, Happy Feet!” Unfortunately, he actually coughed up twenty little neck clams. Directly onto my new Bermuda shorts. I will never again do business with a penguin.

RASJ: So seriously, what made you decide to follow me? Which of my posts caught your eye? You can tell me.

SS: “The Day the Last Baby Tooth Fell Out” really punched my lights out. And not because it rode the tails of Sandyhook. No, this one was a direct line from your heart to the rest of us with kids. It really captured the essence of our perspective as adoring yet helpless observers of our children.

Your son sounds like such a good boy. Through your words, I love him and his cream sodaeyes. He is kind and patient in the face of inconvenience and even pain. He does not play the victim. Far from it, he is every bit a mensch. As the father of two young sons, I understand every bit of the idea of time passing. And milestones falling. And the purity of youth evaporating. In that piece you magically transformed your son into one of my own.

RASJ: Thanks for your kind words, Stu. It’s nice to learn a little about you. We havea Happy House in Florida. Maybe we can meet up in real life sometime, you think?

• • •

If you’ve been lurking around and you’d like me to notice you, tweet me. You could be next!

Isn’t that thing cool? I want to play with it. Remember when I wrote about the guy who stole all the gold when I was a teen? Do you think this could have been the guy? Seriously. He’s clearly has access to gold and look at that smile. Oy.

Bless you!! Then I’ll forgive you for the “cheap and vulgar” non-comment. I knew either you or Renee would probably go there. 😉 (I actually blog at http://misteriopress.com, btw) Best of luck with your book!!

Amber is ANOTHER one who is too humble to brag about her writing prowess. Her book The Ruth Valley Missing was just nominated for a RONE award. What that means is that she might win a trip to Vegas, baby! Amber can advise you on how she self-published her way to the top. I don’t mean to be a yenta here, but it’s fun to fix up my stalkers followers with the people I love most in the world.

And nice to meet you Michelle. Congrats on the Versatile Blogger award!! And, if I may speak as an artist with over 10 years of searing judgment from the world about my work … we just gotta roll with it baby. Easier said than done … but it won’t mean a goddam thing in a 100 years.

This was very cute and informative. Except for that nasty tamale slinging clam puking penguin. That part was just fun. And not for nothin’, but I was going to spray paint my little side tables for the deck. But now I feel like I should glue some stuff on them first. 🙂

Can you ever believe that penguin? What a jerk. And THAT is why I prefer hedgehogs. Meanwhile, I just painted some side tables and scheduled the post for July. If you are going to do something let me know, and I’ll link to you! Because I’m guessing you’ll run your post first! 😉 And by all means bedazzle them. After spray paint, glue guns are a girl’s best friend.

I don’t know if I have the BEST ideas, but I’ve been fiddling with this for a while. If I were smarter (and more organizer) I would have had 3 months of content lined up before I launched. But, well, I just launched. We’ll see if I can find another willing victim participant. Ever. Have a wonderful weekend, Rivki. Shabbat shalom!

Hi Z! There’s a reason this felt like a teaser: Stu gave me a lot more. IYKWIM. But I had to shorten things, big time. Meanwhile, what would you think if some random chick asked if she could profile you on her blog. Would you let her do it? Would you be creeped out? I think he was very brave to go where no man has gone before. You know, this was virgin territory.

Renée, trust your sweet heart and gutsy personality to wander out there into Twitterland and make friends … just like that … ! Thanks for introducing Stu to us – a talented guy and a dedicated family man to boot! I’m thinking he now has an idea of just how fortunate he was to follow you on Twitter! You are the best! Has Spring disappeared in Roch like it has in TO? We are frickin’ freezing here again!

Thanks Patricia! I’ve been thinking FOREVER about how to engage some of those obscure Twitter followers. I’m going to give this a whirl. Meanwhile, it’s been raining for two days and it’s downright freezing again. Do you think it’s because I put away the sleepingbag coat?

Renee, you are one clever girl! Fab mini interview. Hi Stuart! Stuart is in my Wana113 class so we kinda know each other. Kinda. I think he’s following me on Twitter, but not stalking me, like you Renee. Lol! 🙂

You guys are taking one of Kristen’s classes together? That’s fantastic! I didn’t know! How cool is that. And small world! I met someone this morning on Twitter and I directed her to you, Karen! Hope that’s okay!

Pleun: I’m glad you enjoyed. Keep your expectations low low low. If I had ben smart, I would have had three months of content created before launching this “feature.” I didn’t do that, and now we’re heading into summer. *headdesk* Let’s just say, it will happen intermittently. I don’t have anyone else lined up at the moment. 😉

Well, you know I like a little LITE stalking. 😉 I have to tell you, it’s too bad I didn’t think of this before because we met on Twitter, did we not? You would have been fun fun fun to interview! Woo hoo!

Jules, I asked Stuart about five questions like that. And he went off. I couldn’t post them all. They were…breath-taking. Byro has to get his claws into his guy. He’ll get about 19.3 posts off one interview. LOL! Have a great weekend!

Jules (because I do want to take our relationship to the next level) … you’re funny as hell. Excited to be following you and enjoying the ride. BTW – the day Renée asked me about the penguin, I had just written this post – http://stuartsheldon.com/2013/heavy-petting-penguins/. SWEAR TO GOD.

Mary, who knew that Stu was going to handle the blog today! Major BONUS! I didn’t even ask him to do this! He’s a gem! And Stu, you MUST follow @ateachablemom. SHe’s my evil twin. And she comes to Florida once in a while. I’m hoping to meet her in real life one day. So while you and Zack are planning your hookup, well, for me, there’s something about Mary. {Did you see what I did there?}

I love the new feature! You have the smartest ideas, Renee. So I meandered over to Stuart’s blog and he had me at Tabasco. (and it isn’t that ridiculous to think that we COULD manage a gathering in Florida … )

Omigosh! We really could have some kind of blogging party. I’m not kidding. Maybe we shout put out a feeler to see if people would like to meet up. Oh Naomi! I don’t want to share you this first time! 😉

Any handsome guy who dresses well is a friend of mine. So many guys have given up when it comes to looking like an adult these days! And wow, what a long and interesting list of accomplishments. Cool post!

Embrace The Chaos.

Search me.

Search for:

It’s Me With The Face.

I was prescribed Klonopin for insomnia in 2005. Seven years later, after a slow, medically supervised wean, I became cognitively impaired, and after 30 months of intense suffering, I have been resurrected - a phoenix, come from the ashes, ready to battle doctors and big Pharma, while offering empathic support to those still suffering protracted withdrawal symptoms.

A perfectionist by nature, I'm learning to find beauty in the chaos. I'm the girl with the big ideas and the big hair. And words. Always words.

Seven Times. More Please.

Are Your Hands In My Drawers?

All rights reserved. Excerpting portions of posts and/or linking them is encouraged, provided full and clear credit is given to renée a. schuls-jacobson with proper attribution via hyperlinks directing folks to the original content. Duplication in whole or substantial portion of this site or any component is not permitted: neither is reblogging.